Council admits editing footage of special meeting

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A technical blunder during a livestreamed meeting has forced a council to retrospectively edit YouTube footage.

Last Wednesday Conwy County Council held a special meeting to elect a new leader.

Councillor Julie Fallon was elected over Cllr Paul Luckock after a secret ballot at the council’s Coed Pella HQ.

The vote followed former leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey stepping down the previous week.

But a live on-screen voting display was streamed live on what should have been a secret ballot. Conwy has now admitted retrospectively editing the video and replacing the version that was originally broadcast, notifying councillors in an e-mail.

Transparency 

It’s not the first time the authority has retrospectively edited footage, bringing accountability and transparency into question.

In January 2023 the council admitted it had censored “a wardrobe malfunction” in 2022, as well as deleting a controversial vote in December of the same year when Cllr David Carr was denied a place on the democratic services committee.

The edit follows criticisms by councillors complaining of technical bugs in the new chamber since the move from Bodlondeb to the new Colwyn Bay Coed Pella HQ.

Open ballot

A Conwy County Council spokeswoman said: “At the council meeting on 8 October, the vote to elect the new leader was originally started as an open ballot. As soon as this was noticed the ballot was stopped and restarted.

“As the livestream and the original recording showed an incomplete vote, the monitoring officer agreed that the section of the footage should be removed. This is permitted in the council constitution.”

She added: “The council’s protocol for the webcasting of meetings states that councillors will be notified if the monitoring officer decides that part of a recording needs to be removed and he has written to all councillors to explain the decision.”